Episode 38 -IBS and the Heroine's Journey

I was listening to a podcast the other day where the host described the concept of the Heroine’s Journey and how it was different from Joseph Campbell’s classic Hero’s journey . I had heard and studied already a bit about the Hero’s Journey, but the concept of a Heroine’s Journey was new to me and I was immediately fascinated to how I felt it connected with IBS. 

Once I researched and read more deeply on what the Heroine’s journey was the more I thought that this was exactly what my IBS story has been for me. I was totally engrossed in this connection, and I think you too will find it interesting.

Today’s episode will delve into what the Heroine’s journey is and how it relates to the female experience of IBS. 

Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources at healingheribs.com/38.  

Transcript

Episode 38-IBS as a Heroine’s Journey

I was listening to a podcast the other day where the host described the concept of the Heroine’s Journey and how it was different from Joseph Campbell’s classic Hero’s journey . I had heard and studied already a bit about the Hero’s Journey, but the concept of a Heroine’s Journey was new to me and I was immediately fascinated to how I felt it connected with IBS. 

Once I researched and read more deeply on what the Heroine’s journey was the more I thought that this was exactly what my IBS story has been for me. I was totally engrossed in this connection, and I think you too will find it interesting.

Today’s episode will delve into what the Heroine’s journey is and how it relates to the female experience of IBS. 

Find the full transcript for this episode and other resources at healingheribs.com/38.  

What is the Heroine’s Journey and the Hero’s Journey
Before we begin to dive into why I feel that the process of healing IBS can very much follow the arc other Heroine’s Journey, let’s go over what exactly is the Hero’s Journey and the Heroine’s Journey so that you can have a basic understanding of these concepts before we move on. The hero’s journey is an archetypal journey that was talked about by Joseph  Campbell who was a mythologist who spent his life studying stories from every culture — from ancient myths to modern fairy tales — and he realized they all followed a similar pattern. He called it The Hero’s Journey: a path where the hero leaves home, faces challenges, defeats the enemy, and returns home transformed. His work shaped how we tell stories today — even Star Wars was inspired by it. But one of Campbell’s students, Maureen Murdock, noticed something missing. The Hero’s Journey is about external conquest — the masculine journey of achievement and victory. Yet, for many women, transformation doesn’t come from defeating something ‘out there. It comes from turning inward — from healing, reconnecting, and remembering who we truly are. That’s what she called The Heroine’s Journey. 

The Hero’s Journey follows this evolution about external adventure: 

·       The hero leaves home, faces trials, conquers challenges, and returns transformed.

·       It’s driven by action and achievement — slaying the dragon, winning the prize, saving the world.

·       Classic stories that inhabit the Hero’s Journey are:  Star Wars, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings — all about mastery and outward victory.

 The Heroine’s Journey differs because her arc follows this pattern of internal transformation: 

• The heroine first rejects her intuition or body (the feminine) to succeed in a masculine world.
• After achieving “success,” she feels empty or unfulfilled.
• A descent or crisis follows — often through illness, burnout, or emotional collapse.
• Deeper healing comes through reconnection with her body, feelings, and intuition.
• The journey ends not with conquest, but integration — uniting action and being, mind and body.
• Examples of the Heroine’s journey in books and movies like:  Eat Pray Love, Frozen II, or Moana — they heal by listening, not fighting.
• Older stories such as Alice in Wonderland and the Wizard Of Oz also follow the arc of the Heroine’s Journey

 Alice In Wonderland 

I have always love the story of Alice in Wonderland and I think it’s such a perfect example for the Heroine’s Journey—the way she follows this more feminine path of descent, confusion and integration. In the story, Alice is not trying to defeat a monster or trying to save the world, she’s awakening her consciousness of who she really is. Honestly at first I thought it was the story of taking a psychedelic journey and when I learned it could also be a classic Heroine’s Journey-it only made me love it more!  I especially love the  part where the caterpillar says— “Who ARE YOU??’’ over and over to Alice— is just an apt example of this search. She’s reconnecting and dissecting who she is in a chaotic and nonsensical world. Let’s break it down further according to Maureen Murdock’s Heroine Journey Stages: 

 Alice in Wonderland as the Heroine’s Journey

1.        Separation from the Feminine: The Fall into the Rabbit Hole

At the beginning, Alice lives in a structured, logical, Victorian world — expected to “behave properly,” think rationally, and follow rules.
 Her curiosity (“What would happen if…?”) is discouraged — she’s separated by her cultural upbringing from her natural intuition, imagination, and feminine curiosity.

When she chases the White Rabbit and falls into the rabbit hole, she leaves that rigid world behind — symbolically falling out of logic and into the wild landscape of the subconscious.
  This is the start of her descent.

2. Identification with the Masculine: Trying to Control and Make Sense of Chaos

Once in Wonderland, Alice tries to use logic to navigate absurd situations — asking questions, giving orders, trying to make sense of nonsense.
 She’s still operating in “masculine” energy: problem-solving, controlling, analyzing.
 But nothing responds to logic here — it’s a place where intuition and paradox rule.
 This stage mirrors when women try to “fix” or “control” what’s happening in their lives or bodies (like IBS), instead of  being able to listen in closer.

3. The Illusion of Success: Believing She Can Manage Wonderland

At points, Alice thinks she can control things — by changing her size, bossing others around, or arguing with Wonderland’s creatures. But each time, that illusion crumbles.
 She realizes that the more she tries to dominate Wonderland, the more powerless and lost she feels.
 This reflects the moment we realize our old strategies — control, pushing, perfectionism — don’t work anymore -they just stop working for us and it can truly feel like a loss.

4. The Descent to the Goddess: Surrender and Confusion

The chaos builds — riddles with no answers, logic that twists in circles, identity confusion (“Who in the world am I?”).
 Alice begins to lose her sense of self — a necessary ego death in the Heroine’s Journey.
  This is the dark night of the soul, when the old self breaks down to make space for the real one to emerge.

5. Urgent Yearning to Reconnect with the Feminine

Through all the absurdity, Alice’s curiosity — her feminine essence — starts to guide her again.
She stops fighting Wonderland and starts observing it, trusting her inner sense of what feels true or absurd.
Her intuition grows stronger.
 
 

 In healing terms, this is when we stop fighting our bodies and begin listening.

6. Healing the Mother/Daughter Split

The Queen of Hearts can be seen as a distorted mother archetype — a figure of fear and control (“Off with their heads!”).
 Alice stands up to her, reclaiming her voice and power — not through force, but truth.
 She says, “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”. She realizes that the order and control she held on to was true was really just an illusion, something that she was taught and gave meaning to. She stands up finally to this false authority. 
 Symbolically, she breaks free from the internalized “rules” of who she’s supposed to be.

7. Integration: Awakening

Alice wakes up.
 The whole journey has been an inward dream — a descent into the unconscious, a confrontation with chaos, and a return to consciousness with greater self-awareness.
 She’s not “defeated” anyone. She’s remembered herself.
The Heroine’s Journey always ends not with an external victory, but wholeness, with balance. 

Why It’s a Heroine’s Journey — Not a Hero’s

• The Hero’s Journey would have had Alice conquer Wonderland or rescue someone.
• The Heroine’s Journey has her descend into confusion, reclaim her inner authority, and awaken to her own wisdom.
  Her power doesn’t come from control — it comes from trusting her experience.

The IBS Connection

IBS often pulls women down their own “rabbit hole” — into confusion, frustration, and uncertainty. We have not initiated this battle—we were simply living our lives the best we could, trying our best to be who we thought we should be and IBS just comes upon us like a sudden fall down the rabbit hole. A deep dark falling without ever having had that intention. Like Alice, we confront this battle by trying to control everything: diet, supplements, schedules and ultimate control.  But healing comes when we stop forcing order and start listening — to our bodies, our emotions, our inner cues—starting to see where the disconnect for us uniquely lies. Alice didn’t conquer Wonderland. She learned to see through its madness and trust herself. That’s exactly what the Heroine’s Journey looks like in healing — the moment you stop trying to control your body and start partnering with it. The moment where you learn to dance between the energies of caring for yourself and letting yourself just be in a deeper sense. Our next episode will be an interview with a woman with IBS—as you listen see if you can see her Heroine’s Journey in her story and see if you can see it unfolding in your own. The following episode, I will describe how my journey with IBS has been a type of Heroine’s Journey and I will encourage you to map of your own journey to see where you might fall in this story arc. 

Thank you for listening today and I hope you found today’s episode useful.